Critic Reviews

This would have to be the most complex pinball game I have played yet. Lots of eye candy, the graphics are great! Before you play you are given your goals to accomplish. Adventure Pinball has quite a big pinball map. There are volcanoes, and lots of ramps etc. There are many things you can control, for example you can bump the table (world), move cave men, and of course control your many flippers. From a Christian perspective, this looks like a clean game to me. The game is easy to install. The graphics are great. It uses the Unreal engine, I am still undecided if that is over kill or not. The sound effects are good. There is a voice saying 'Good shot!' or 'Oh no!' depending on how well you do. There are also lots of 'oogas'. The only complaint I have is the flippers on some areas of the game are not responsive enough. Other than that it's a fun and unique pinball game.

Adventure Pinball will keep you entertained as you try to unlock all the tables and make your way through the entire island, but will it keep you interested when it's just about score? The tables just aren't tight enough to warrant infinite replay, and they're so structured around hitting certain ramps to unlock new sections that you may get annoyed that you have to repeat intricate tasks just to catch a cool part of a table again. Still, repetition's the name of the game when it comes to pinball, so it's hard to knock the game for something that's almost innate to the game itself. It's a good try, EA and Digital Extremes, but it would have been nice to have seen tighter but fewer tables, instead of a nice number of tables that will tend to become as interesting as a python after it's had its monthly meal.

Adventure Pinball: Forgotten Island takes a familiar style of game--pinball--and pushes it beyond its ordinary limitations by incorporating colorful 3D graphics and innovative level design. The game uses the powerful Unreal engine, which was originally developed for use in first-person shooters, and the engine's roots shine through in Adventure Pinball's fast-paced action. The game's levels make good use of the freedom provided by the engine, and they include a number of creative gameplay elements. While the game at times relies too heavily on its frantic pace, and its graphics aren't very interesting, it does provide a fun new perspective on the traditional pinball game.

While Adventure Pinball: Forgotten Island is a nice idea, and the execution definitely has its cool points, the game simply doesn't have enough staying power to make it really worth getting, and the frustrating locations of some of the goals only makes it that much more irritating. With more tightly engineered boards that offer more surprises, rewards, and less 'luck shots', this potential series could be a winner, but as it is Forgotten Island would perhaps best be forgotten.

That, I suppose, is the hazard of a pinball game with a plot – it’s more addictive to play than your average pinball game, but replay value ultimately goes out the window. Even with what must add up to 30 tables and sub-tables and side-tables, you end up with a very I’ve-solved-this-table-so-why-play-it-again mindset. I’ve solved Forgotten Island, and now I’ve forgotten it.

Adventure Pinball: Forgotten Islands is absolutely one of the best pinball game what I've ever played. It's a fully 3D game which uses the very expensive Unreal Tournament engine (yeah you have read right - the same engine used in 1st-person shooters, such as Clive Barker's Undying). The game comes with 9 tables, each themed in the way the levels on a platform game are themed. There are ice levels, lava levels, water levels, etc.

Adventure Pinball: Forgotten Island is one of the most original pinball games we've ever seen. While it's hardly born of genius (in fact it's more likely to have been born of hallucinogenic drugs going by the storyline), it's different enough to warrant your interest.

Not everything is subtitled but all the goals are so you'll have no problem playing the game which is all that matters in a game of this nature. It's probably not for the pinball purist but it's a decent game nevertheless.

Still, this game could get a recommendation if the price was right...but it's not. The game is worth about 10 bucks, but it sells for a whopping $30. That's just a brutal rip off, considering what you get - a subpar pinball game. But at least it's a great extinction theory.